Apple's WWDC 2025: Introducing iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and the major unveilings at the yearly developer gathering
Apple's WWDC 2025 didn't attempt to turn the tech world on its head, but it damn well fixed the nagging issues that had been lingering for too long. The newest versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS are all here, and while they might look familiar, they feel notably improved. This year's updates took a practical approach, focusing on quality-of-life enhancements and usability that users will appreciate.
At the forefront is Liquid Glass, a sleek new design language that unifies your Apple devices with a translucent, fluid-like aesthetic. Icons, buttons, sliders, notifications—you name it—look and behave a bit more lively now. But it's not just about appearances; navigation has been reworked, as well. Toolbars shrink when you scroll, controls adapt to what you're doing, and the interface gets out of your way when you're focused. Apps now function more as extensions of what you're doing rather than clunky containers.
iOS 26: Making small things matter
On the iPhone, quality-of-life improvements are everywhere. The Phone app merges favorites, recents, and voicemail into one view, while call screening and hold assist help shield you from spam and keep you from losing your marbles while on hold. Messages now separate unknown senders and allow you to create polls or custom backgrounds in chats, and even the lock screen adapts to your wallpaper, ensuring that widgets and the time fit around your chosen subject instead of covering it up.
There's a new level of Visual Intelligence baked in. With Liquid Intelligence, you can highlight anything on your screen and ask me, ChatGPT, for more info. Whether it's a product, a date, or a phrase you don't recognize, I can provide answers, enable quick actions like adding events to your calendar, translation conversations instantly—all processed locally on your device.
iPadOS 26: Multitasking Finally Grows up
The iPad's new windowing system is the big news here rather than design. Now, you can open multiple windows, resize them freely, and position them exactly as you want. A new Expose view shows everything that's open, making multitasking more desktop-like. The Files app now supports folder color customisation, shortcuts to the dock, and column views with collapsible sections. It's still an iPad, but it's finally capable of real multitasking.
The Preview app comes to the iPad, allowing you to mark up PDFs or fill out forms directly with the Pencil. There's support for background tasks too, meaning heavy processing jobs can now run without keeping apps open. It's the sort of power user upgrade that brings the iPad one step closer to being a legitimate laptop replacement.
macOS Tahoe: Evolution, not Revolution
Mac users get the posh version of Liquid Glass, and it looks cleaner, lighter, and more responsive. The menu bar is now fully transparent, and you can customise folders with colors, icons, emojis. App icons adapt to light or dark mode, giving everything a cohesive look and feel. Spotlight gets the biggest enhancement, earning a place on your keyboard as a launcher rather than just a search tool. It can now take direct actions, like sending an email, creating a note, or launching an app, without needing to open anything.
Spotlight also ranks search results better and gives you "quick keys" so you can act fast. Mac users also benefit from tighter integration with their iPhones and better game performance and features, thanks to Metal 4 and the new Apple Games app.
watchOS 26: Awareness meets Ease
On the Watch, you'll find the new Liquid Glass aesthetic matches everything else, making the interface feel smoother, with more context-aware widgets and hints. There's a new workout companion called Workout Buddy that offers spoken feedback based on your fitness history, tracking your progress, offering encouragement, and wrapping things up like a personalized coach[1]. New gestures, like a wrist flick, let users dismiss notifications without needing to touch the screen, perfect for when your hands are full or you're busy keeping the beat.
visionOS 26: Feel Less Alone, More Present
visionOS still inhabits that sci-fi-but-not-quite-mainstream space, but updates here focus on making it less isolating. The headset platform gets widget updates, which become spatial and remain where you placed them in your room. Spatial scenes use generative AI to give your 2D photos a layered, immersive feel. Shared experiences let users watch or play with others in the same room, and there's even support for external controllers, such as PlayStation VR2 and immersive video formats, potentially giving Apple's spatial platform its first real gaming boost.
The Apple Vision Pro remains a niche device, but the software is gradually catching up to the hardware.
Other Changes and Improvements
Not everything Apple announced at WWDC 2025 was a huge buy-now-only-if-you've-been-waiting moment. Safari is a bit swifter and snappier than Chrome (according to Apple, anyway), AirPods can start video recordings with a tap, and the Games app gives players a central hub for tracking and managing everything. The calculator app now supports 3D graphing, and the Journal app is now everywhere. The tvOS 26 now lets you use your iPhone as a karaoke mic using the Sing mode, and accessibility features get a serious upgrade across all platforms, improving accessibility for users with a wide range of needs.
So, was it a blockbuster affair? Not really. It's not the sort of presentation that will set the tech world ablaze, but the changes Apple made are significant, addressing areas that needed improvement and focusing on a practical, usable experience for users. It's all about making our devices less annoying, smarter, and more enjoyable. And given the last few years, isn't that something we could all use?
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- The newest versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS are all incorporating 'technology' to improve user experience, with features such as Liquid Intelligence for quick information and actions, multitasking improvements on iPadOS, Spotlight as a launcher on macOS, context-aware widgets on the Apple Watch, and spatial widgets on visionOS.
- With the iOS 26 update, iPhone users can now enjoy 'smartphones' with enhanced quality-of-life features like the Phone app merging favorites, recents, and voicemail, call screening, hold assist, Messages withpolls and custom backgrounds, and a lock screen that adapts to the wallpaper.
